Winning Dory
by Eskarina
Summary: While Marlin tries to work out weather or not to make Dory Nemo's new mom, Gill is trying to find his true love Dorleen, a nice fluffy kinda story. chapter six is now up!
1. Remembering

Winning Dory.  
  
Marlin awoke and glanced around the anemone. He was alone; it made a nice change from Nemo jumping on him telling him to hurry up.  
  
"Peace perfect peace." He said to himself.  
  
"What didya say?"  
  
"GAH!" Marlin screamed, then sighed with relief, as Dory's bright little face descended from the top of the anemone into view. "Dory, new rule, no creeping up on me while I'm sleeping."  
  
"But you weren't sleeping you were.!"  
  
Nemo suddenly swam over, rubbing his eyes. "Morning Dad, hi Dory."  
  
Dory waved clumsily, her scarred fin wasn't able to move much. Marlin shook his head, every time he saw that bruised fin he felt like it was his fault.  
  
"Hi Kilo."  
  
"Nemo." Both Marlin and Nemo corrected at the same time.  
  
Dory rolled her eyes, "Whatever. C'mon you two! You'll be late for school!" she swam behind Nemo and began pushing him towards the edge of the anemone.  
  
"Hold it!" Marlin called, stopping Dory from pushing his son headfirst into the stinging plant. "Brush, then we take him."  
  
Nemo rolled his eyes in annoyance but obediently did as he was told. And as soon as both and Dory had brushed their fins to the point where they could stand the stings they were off.  
  
The three swam along the reef, watching the other parents taking their youngsters to school, Nemo and Dory being silly and racing each other now and then.  
  
"You'll never catch me Dory!" Nemo called, shooting ahead.  
  
"Wanna bet? I was built for speed!" she yelled back and darted in front of the little clownfish.  
  
Marlin laughed, then he too joined the race, "see you at the finish line, if you even get there!"  
  
They reached the clearing where Mr.Ray was waiting with the other students. Dory and Nemo arguing about whom had came first.  
  
"Dude!" Squirt called, dashing over to Nemo. "Dude are you going to the trip to the EAC? It's gonna be Totally radical!"  
  
"Can I dad?" Nemo begged, Marlin sighed, not able to resist those adorable little eyes.  
  
"Sure, but be careful okay?"  
  
Nemo dashed onto Mr. Ray's back, joining the gaggle of laughing fish.  
  
"Bye Dad! Bye Mom!" he called as the ray swam away.  
  
"Mom?" Marlin repeated, before realising whom his son was addressing. He turned to look at Dory, who was waving a clumsy goodbye.  
  
"So, getting remarried are ya?" Bob the seahorse asked, swimming up with a wicked smile upon his face.  
  
"What? No, Nemo must just think."Marlin trailed off. "I don't know. Dory's more of a friend that anything."  
  
"Yeah, but the boy needs a mother." The seahorse reminded marlin, then nudged him. Dory was playing with some of the littlest fish on the sponge beds. "She'd make a fine mother to Nemo, and any others that came along."  
  
Marlin sighed and watched her. Since they'd arrived back in the reef he'd become a lot more tolerant of her short-term memory; it really wasn't too bad reminding her of Nemo's name every three minutes, in fact, it was sort of cute.  
  
"Hmm, it's something to think about I suppose." Marlin replied.  
  
Meanwhile, a few leagues away, Gill floated peacefully, waiting for the usual onslaught of questions that would come, as they came every morning, from the worried tank gang.  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"I'm hungry!"  
  
"Gill, when are we gonna reach the reef?"  
  
Gill sighed, "We're going to the Great Barrier Reef, we'll find food in a minute and I don't know when, I just know it's soon. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone for five seconds!" he swam away from the tank gang.  
  
Dab put her head on one side, "What's eating him?" she asked the others, then looked around, "And where the bloomin' heck is Flo?!"  
  
Jaques laughed, ""I am thinking notre Capitan 'as ze . . . 'ow do you say? Ze strains de l'amour on 'im."  
  
"And for those of us who speak English?" Gurgle asked irritably.  
  
"He said he thinks Gill's pining for that girl again." Bloat replied.  
  
"Again?" they all groaned in response.  
  
Peach, the only one who Gill would ever open up to aside from Nemo, floated over to the black and white Moorish Idol.  
  
"Gill, she might be waiting on the reef for us." Peach tried, unsure of how to comfort Gill.  
  
"Don't be daft. She always was a bit stupid, she'll have forgotten me by now." He gazed out to the open sea, wondering if maybe there was a chance in hell that he'd ever see her again. "My Dorleen."  
  
"Tell me about this Dorleen." Peach requested, wondering what she must have been like to capture Gill's seemingly cold heart.  
  
Gill smiled nostalgically, happy memories coming to him. "I met her just outside the reef, I crashed into her while I was swimming and."  
  
(this is a flashback, do not attempt to adjust your screen)  
  
"Oh!" Gill cried as he went crashing into a rock. "Owwww."  
  
"Oh my goodness, are you okay?"  
  
He opened his eyes, and for a moment he was sure he died and went to heaven, surely this was an angel he gazed upon, surely she wouldn't have graced this unworthy ocean with her infinite beauty, she shone like each and every star, she was all his dreams come true.  
  
"Are you okay cutie?" she asked, suddenly blushing at the way this young stranger was staring at her.  
  
He shook his head, trying to get some words out. "Uh. I'm fine, are you okay beautiful? I mean um."  
  
She giggled, "I'm Dorleen." She held her fin out, meaning for him to shake it; instead he took her fin in his and kissed it.  
  
"That's a lovely name, it suits you." he released her fin, "I'm Gill."  
  
From then on they couldn't leave each other's side, they found a home in the reef, a clamshell, plenty of space and beautiful surroundings, and Dorleen just loved gazing into the pearl.  
  
"I am a mystic gypsy!" she chanted, waving her fins around the pearl, "I can see into your future!"  
  
"Sure you can." Gill answered, swimming up beside her. "What do you see in my future then?"  
  
"I see. misty white stuff."  
  
"Oh very funny Dory." Gill said, rolling his eyes, "can I read your future now?"  
  
Dorleen floated to one side, sulking. "You can try."  
  
Gill smiled, knowing just how to cheer her up, he stared hard into the pearl, pretending to be concentrating really hard.  
  
"I see. I see a handsome Moorish idol. and I see you and him, sitting in clamshell, kissing." he looked up suddenly. Dorleen blushed.  
  
"How far into the future is that then?" she whispered, casting her gaze down, not meeting his eye.  
  
"About three seconds." Gill replied, then kissed her.  
  
Suddenly there was a scream from nearby, both of them looked up in surprise.  
  
There was leopard shark swimming through the reef! Gill swam up to the top of the clam and began pushing it, trying to close the shell, it remained upright. And what was worse, the shark had turned towards their clamshell.  
  
He froze on the spot, remembering one important thing, Sharks can't see very well, if he didn't move it might not see him. To his horror he realised Dorleen didn't know this. He glanced down into the shell, Dorleen was whimpering slightly.  
  
The Shark swam a little closer to the shell and Dorleen's fear took her over, she swam out of the shell, shooting past Gill so that she was only a blue blur.  
  
"DORY!" he yelled as the leopard launched itself at the space behind him, aiming for Dorleen.  
  
There was a crash and a bang as Gill was knocked into the clam and it slammed shut, he began viciously throwing himself against the lid of the shell, trying desperately to get out and save Dorleen.  
  
(end flashback.)  
  
Gill had his eyes closed. "I. I never saw her again. Someone told me she'd got a bump to the head that damaged her memory. She must've swam off." He gulped, Peach could tell he was trying not to break down in front of her.  
  
If starfish could hang their heads, Peach would've. "I'm so sorry Gill. You... you really did love her."  
  
Gill took a deep breath, deciding to change the subject before she questioned him further, he didn't want to remember Dorleen, and he wanted to forget. "Let's go, if we hurry we might even make it before nightfall." 


	2. Fighting

Dory was floating peacefully outside the anemone, looking at all the homes  
there were. Mostly anemones like Marlin's, but some where holes in the  
rocks and others were simply areas marked out as territory. All of them  
where so pretty, bathed in the rippling moonlight.  
And then there was that empty Clamshell. Pink around the edges, with a  
single shiny white pearl in. She was surprised it wasn't taken, but no one  
lived there, so she'd sort of adopted it as her own.  
Until today when Nemo went away on the trip for a week, she didn't like the  
idea of Marlin being alone, so she'd agreed to stay with him for a while.  
"Dory, are you going to float there all night?" Marlin called.  
Dory shook her head. "Just thinking!"  
"Makes a change." Marlin muttered, settling down into the plant's warmth.  
"Come on, the leopard sharks will be out soon and I don't want you to get  
eaten."  
Dory sighed, "I don't think I should, something's telling me to stay up a  
little longer."  
Marlin swam up to her, "Come on Dory, it's cold out here." He noticed what  
she was staring at. "Nice pearl, huh?"  
Dory's brow creased with concentration. "There's something important about  
it. I can't remember what."  
"Dory, it's clam mucus, there's nothing important about it."  
Dory sighed. "I suppose." She followed Marlin back into the anemone. She  
glanced back up for a moment. "I'm so sure there's something to remember  
about that clam." she winced suddenly, clutching her scarred fin.  
Marlin swam back up to her quickly, "Dory? Are you okay?" he helped her  
swim back down into the plant. His fins wrapped around her.  
"It's just my fin, I'll be fine." she smiled, closing her eyes and drifting  
into the happy feeling of sleep, all the time in Marlin's fins.  
  
Gill smiled, he could see the Barrier reef now. It was within their grasp,  
true freedom at last!  
"There it is guys!" he yelled, stopping and causing the line of fish behind  
him to crash into him.  
"Whoa! It's." Bloat started.  
"Beautiful!" Dab finished for him.  
"Oui, and so big." Jack added, thinking of all the fish that would need  
cleaning there.  
"Probably crawling with parasites." Gurgle started, but Gill's sharp glare  
told him to shut up.  
"It's home." Gill said happily for the first time. Not wanting to wait  
another minute he put on a burst of speed and shot forward. 'If I get there  
in the next ten seconds then maybe she'll be there, maybe she'll be in our  
clam, maybe.' His mind raced with hundreds of thoughts.  
With a triumphant laugh he stopped at the edge of the reef. For the first  
time he felt like he was home. He looped the loop in the warm, safe water.  
The others arrived one by one, all pleased to see Gill so happy.  
"Calm down Gill. There's fish asleep here." Dab warned.  
Bubbles gave a loud yawn. "We need sleep." He stated.  
"Okay, all of you better go find places to sleep, I have some business to  
attend to." With that he swam deeper into the coral.  
His eyes scanned the ground, it was around here somewhere, he could  
remember that there was a big pink anemone nearby. he froze.  
There it was. Their clam, their safes haven away from everyone else in the  
world.  
Only it was empty, all that was within the shell was the pearl. He broke  
down. Slowly sinking deeper and deeper until he was resting in the clam. He  
rolled the pear around a little, pretending he could see her face in it.  
"I see a lonely angelfish, who's never going to see Dorleen again."  
  
Dory opened her eyes and blinked, she could hear someone crying to himself.  
She yawned and moved there was a small murmur of protest from Marlin, but  
she managed to swim away without awakening him and swim upwards.  
There was a black and white angelfish sitting in her clam, crying silently  
to himself. She felt a sudden surge of anger at this, how dare he go into  
her clam? How dare he? She shot towards him, meaning to smack him out of  
it.  
  
Gill looked up, some insane blue fish was swimming towards him and  
breakneck speed.  
"Huh?" he asked, before being smacked into and sent flying. "HEY! What was  
that for?!"  
"Get out of my clam!" Dory yelled back. Their eyes met, hers defiant, his  
hurt, and then.  
They both gasped. Dory felt a sudden memory come shooting back, of a single  
name.  
"Gill?" Dory ventured.  
"Dorleen?" Gill asked, his mouth dropping open in shock, he never expected  
to see her again and yet here she was, still as pretty as a picture, still  
with deep red eyes that always enchanted him.  
She looked confused. "Who's Dorleen?" she looked around for this 'Dorleen'  
"I'm Dory."  
'Of course, that's the last thing I said to her before she got that knock  
on the head.' Gill thought. "Dory, remember me?" he swam closer to her,  
circling her.  
"Why are you staring at me? What's your problem? What are you? Some kinda  
vulture-fish or something?"  
Gill stopped, he grabbed her damaged fin, "Who did this to you?" he asked  
urgently.  
Dory struggled, "Let go! Please!" now frightened, she called for her last  
line of defence. "Marlin!"  
Marlin's eyes jerked open, he glanced around the anemone quickly. Dory!  
Dory was gone! He shot up and out of the anemone, looking desperately for  
the bright flash of blue that Dory was. She caught his eye easily, she was  
in the clam with. some sort of angelfish?  
She shrieked and Marlin forgot all about safety and silly things like that,  
instead he threw himself headfirst towards the intruder.  
  
Gill groaned as he was sent flying for the second time that night. He was  
quick to regain his balance and fix the newcomer with an angry stare.  
Marlin moved himself in front of Dory protectively. "I won't let you hurt  
the fish I love."  
Dory blinked. "Love?"  
Gill snarled, throwing himself at the clown-fish, soon the two were  
sparring, trying to smack each other to one side long enough to speak with  
Dory.  
"Wait, Marlin, you, love me?"  
"Dory, wrong time, wrong place!" Marlin replied as he was sent flying  
backward into a rock. "OW! Now you die!"  
Dory held her head, all sorts of things were coming back to her and her  
small fishy brain didn't want to try and sort it out. She remembered the  
Angelfish, and something in her head was waving a little flag and saying  
that he was important. But the rest of her brain was concentrating on  
Marlin's comment.  
"STOP!" she shrieked, swimming between the pair. "I don't know what's going  
on but it's too much and fighting isn't helping and." she shook her head  
and turned to the angelfish. "I think I know you from somewhere, can you  
tell me where?" 


	3. L'amour

Okay, thanks to all who reviewed, and cartoon kid, you don't have to pay to  
upload stories, upload away!  
If any of you out there are any good at drawing the nemo gang, I wondered  
if you could draw me a pic of Gill and Dory in their clamshell. ^_^ if you  
do I shall upload faster.  
  
Gill floated there for a second, unsure of what to say or do. "We. you. we  
were in love, a long time ago, we lived in this clamshell. A leopard shark  
tried to attack us one night and you got hit on the head, that's what  
caused your short-term memory." He let his head hang with unhappiness. "But  
you can't remember me so."  
He started to swim away, But Dory, being too kind to let any creature be  
unhappy, swam after him.  
"Look Phil,"  
"Gill."  
"Gill, I may not be able to remember you exactly, but I get the feeling  
you're important, there's something inside of me that's waving a lil' red  
flag and saying I mustn't let you go." Dory began to ramble, Gill sighed  
and looked up, only to notice that Marlin had frozen, his mouth open in an  
O of terror.  
"What's up with clown-boy?" he asked, raising one eyebrow suspiciously.  
Dory turned around, "Hey Marlin! What're you doing out here?" her short-  
term memory had obviously just kicked in.  
Marlin raised one fin, pointing at the water behind Dory and Gill. Gill  
slowly turned.  
A leopard shark was floating there, a huge grin on its toothy face.  
Dory screamed, but Gill grabbed her and forced her mouth closed. "Don't  
make a sound, and don't move. It can't see you if you don't move." He  
hissed. Dory made a small squeak of protest against his fin. "Trust me, I  
won't lose you again."  
Marlin gulped. "Gill, how do we make it leave?" he whispered.  
Gill's brow creased with thought, only one option seemed viable. With one  
move he shot forward past the shark's nose. "C'mon bozo, come and eat me!"  
he called, darting away quickly.  
"Hey look, a shark!" Dory said brightly.  
Marlin snatched Dory's fin in his, tugging her back to the safety of the  
anemone.  
"Wait, what about the angelfish?" Dory asked, once again her mind was  
telling her he was important, that she shouldn't let him get hurt.  
"If he wants to get eaten that's up to him, I'm not interested!" Marlin  
replied as they finally landed in the anemone.  
They waited for any sound.  
None came. It seemed Gill's efforts had led the shark away. Sadly it Gill  
had disappeared along with the shark.  
  
Dory blinked, staring out into the open sea. "He's gone." She said, for  
want of better words.  
Marlin joined her above the anemone, thought for a moment, then rested his  
fin on her scarred one. "Dory, did you really remember him?" he questioned,  
wondering if he had been some random insane fish. Or an important key to  
Dory's past.  
"I'm not sure." Dory suddenly remembered what marlin had said in the heat  
of the fight. "Marlin, do you really love me?"  
Marlin froze, for a whole two seconds his heart stopped beating, but he  
swallowed any fear that had lodged itself in his throat, and spoke what was  
within his heart.  
"I do. I'm not sure why because let's face it you're nuts, but Nemo really  
likes you and if I'm honest, I wouldn't know what to do without you around,  
I like correcting you all the time, I like telling you you're insane even  
though I know you're not, I like.. oh let's just say I like everything  
about you," he took a deep breath of water. "So yes Dory, for whatever  
bizarre reason that caused it, I love you." he looked up at her pretty,  
blue face. "Do you feel the same?"  
Dory giggled, forgetting in an instant the Moorish idol's brave deed.  
(She's not selfish, just forgetful.) She smiled mischievously at Marlin,  
then dove into the anemone. "Catch me and you'll find out!"  
Marlin looked surprised for a moment then caught the meaning behind Dory's  
words and dove in after her. 


	4. All kinds of stuff's happinin'

Meanwhile a certain black-and-white fish was just coming to. He blinked a  
few times, his brain was trying very hard to concentrate on not letting his  
head twist off.  
"'ere, the lil mate's comin to." A strongly accented Australian voice  
declared.  
Gill opened his eyes fully, only to see row after row of teeth staring back  
at him, reflecting his terrified face over and over again.  
"Daun warry lil fella! I daun't bite." The voice sounded oddly friendly.  
Gill let his gaze slip from the teeth to the other features on the face of  
his rescuer.  
It was a great white Shark, flanked by a hammerhead, a smaller Australian  
shark with a hook through his nose and the leopard shark that tried to eat  
him.  
Gill gave a cry of terror and snapped his eyes back shut, hoping that they  
might give up and go away.  
Instead he heard a laugh. "Poor mate's scared ta death. Naut surprising  
after what you almost did to him Spot." The white shark scolded the leopard  
shark.  
"Ah didn't eat 'im though! I did good, right Bruce?" Spot protested.  
Gill opened his eyes slightly, watching the four sharks argue was quite  
entertaining.  
"No you didn't do good numskull, our pledge says to make friends with fish,  
not make them wet themselves in terror!" the hammerhead snapped.  
"I didn't mean to! I had a relapse! But I'm back on the wagon now, and I'm  
on it to stay!"  
Gill waved one fin, trying to catch their attention. They fell into  
silence, waiting for him to speak.  
"1. What the heck happened? 2. Where the heck am I? And 3. What the heck  
are you talking about?"  
Bruce laughed, showing off even more of those terrible teeth. "We're Fish-  
eaters anonymous. We're a society of sharks who don't eat fish, we want to  
change the image that sharks are mindless eating machines."  
Gill relaxed, at least they weren't going to eat him, which was one major  
worry crossed off the growing list.  
Spot piped up suddenly, "I really didn't mean to go for you and your  
friends, I was just so hungry and."  
Gill stopped relaxing, he swam up so he was level with the shark's nose,  
suddenly not caring about the fact that he was trying to take on four  
sharks. "If you harmed one scale on my Dorleen's head I'll stuff so much  
coral up your ass you'll be coughing up sponges for a month!"  
"I'd like to see you try angel-boy!"  
"Don't tempt me zit-face!"  
"Okay, Now I'm eating him!"  
Bruce let one fin swing between the two. "Calm down you two, Ah daun't want  
to have to separate you."  
Gill and spot reluctantly went into the sullen silence of ignoring each  
other. Bruce nodded. "that's better, now then, 'ave you got a name lil'  
mate?"  
"Gill."  
"Good, I'm Bruce, this is Spot and these two are Anchor and Chum. Now ah  
think you better tell us who Dorleen is so we can make sure she'd not had  
an. unfortunate accident." Bruce tried to word it as nicely as possible.  
"She's a blue tang, she's got these gorgeous red eyes and." Gill remembered  
what that clownfish had said. If fish had teeth, Gill would have gritted  
his. "She hangs around with a ugly-ass clownfish, oh and she's calling  
herself Dory."  
Bruce laughed, "Dory? The lil' Sheila with the missing memory?! She comes  
here every other day!"  
  
As day dawned Marlin opened his eyes and glanced around the pink anemone,  
letting his eyes get used to the light. Slowly he remember the events of  
the night, fighting with a moorish idol, declaring his love for Dory,  
spending the night. well he needn't go into that.  
"MORNIN!"  
"ARGH!" Marlin screamed, before realising it was only Dory. "Dory what did  
I tell you yesterday?"  
Dory's brow creased with thought, everything kinda became blurry if she  
tried to think back to more than three minutes ago.  
"Um. don't breathe yellow water?" she guessed. Marlin rolled his eyes then  
put his fin over her back.  
"Close enough." Marlin said, not really caring in any case, he was just  
happy that last night hadn't been a really great dream. "What d'ya want to  
do today?" he asked, watching Dory think really hard. He laughed a little.  
"What's so funny?" Dory asked, frowning.  
Marlin smiled gently. "You look so cute when you're trying to think."  
"What do you mean, 'trying'?" Dory asked with fake anger, she turned away  
and pretended to sulk.  
"If you're going to be angry then I'll have to do something drastic, like.  
TICKLE YOU!" Marlin lunged at her, soon the pair were both laughing as they  
fought to pin each other down. Dory eventually won, slamming Marlin into  
the centre of the anemone and landing on top of him.  
"Pinned ya!" Dory squealed happily.  
"Cute, really cute Dory, now let me up."  
Dory remained floating on Marlin, smiling at him with one of her lights-are-  
on-but-no-one's-home smiles.  
"Won't let me up now, will ya?" Marlin asked playfully.  
"Nope, now you're my prisoner!" Dory said brightly.  
"That's sweet, but aren't you late for going to socialise with a bunch of  
sharks?" Marlin asked, a wicked smile appearing on his face.  
Dory looked surprised then realised that to leave meant losing her prisoner  
and she was having fun pinning Marlin down and watching him struggle.  
She sighed and got off him, allowing the Clownfish to swim around the  
anemone a few times and stretch his fins. She was about to zoom off but  
Marlin grabbed her tail.  
"Hold on a minute, What have you forgotten to do?"  
Dory promptly fell into silence.  
"I'll give you a hint." Marlin kissed her.  
  
Dory swam along towards the fish-eaters anonymous submarine, humming the  
'Just keep swimming' song to herself. Thing couldn't be going better, She  
and Marlin were in love, Keeco would be back in a few days, and after that,  
she didn't know nor care.  
Although at the back of her head something kept waving a red flag and  
telling her she was forgetting something super-important, but she dismissed  
the nag as something silly like Forgetting to bring a fish friend to the  
meeting.  
"Hi guys!" she called into the sub, waving clumsily with the damaged fin.  
Bruce swam up to Dory, "'ello shiela, we've got a surprise for you." he put  
his fin behind her a pushed her along.  
"Really? Neat!" Dory replied, happily swimming along with Bruce, they  
entered the main meeting room, where the newest member, Spot was giving his  
pledge.  
"Hi, I'm Spot."  
"Hello Spot."  
"I haven't eaten a fish for." he paused, thinking for a moment. "Three- no,  
four hours!" he said it like it was a major achievement.  
Bruce tried to smile warmly, but any passing telepathic would have read  
disapproval in mile-high neon letters from that grimace.  
"Chum, go fetch the lil' mate would you?" he asked, then winked, "tell him  
Dorleen's here."  
Chum obediently swam deeper into the bowels of the sub, leaving Dory to  
listen to the pledges and try not to meet Spot's hunger-crazed eyes. Dory  
didn't realise just how lucky she was that Bruce was swimming protectively  
between her and the leopard shark.  
Chum returned a few minutes later; a moorish idol was following him with a  
strange look on his face. When he saw dory he seemed to light up from the  
inside, he seemed to glow. Suddenly he shot forwards to her.  
"Dorleen!"  
Dory blinked hard, the second he'd said that name she'd felt the little nag  
at the back of her head grow stronger.  
"Dorleen, it's me, Gill." He said gently, swimming closer, as if he was  
afraid she might run away.  
  
Back at the reef Marlin too had found himself humming the 'Just keep  
swimming' song, he just felt so ridiculously happy. Even hearing  
Mr.Johanson scream at some lobster kids couldn't annoy him today.  
"Hey Marlin," Bob the seahorse called, Marlin swam down to the seahorse,  
which was attached to a clump of seaweed by the tail. "Have you seen the  
newcomers yet?"  
"Newcomers?"  
"Weird bunch of fish, they say they've escaped from a tank," Bob pointed  
his tail at a small group of assorted fish who were floating nervously near  
a lump of coral, "They certainly act like it, they've been floating there  
for ages, the humbug keeps bursting into tears."  
Marlin glanced at the funny group, "Has anyone bothered to ask what's  
wrong?" Bob fell silent. "I thought not." Marlin said and began swimming  
over.  
"Hello, I'm Marlin, are you new around here?" He asked politely.  
The group looked nervously at one another, then the starfish spoke. "Yeah,  
listen, have you seen a moorish idol around here with one scarred fin? Only  
he's our sort-of leader and he's gone missing."  
Marlin gulped, knowing at once whom the pink creature was describing. "Well  
um."  
Suddenly the yellow angelfish yelled out "SHARKBAIT!" and jumped on Marlin,  
who cried out in terror and tried to swim backwards, a very interesting  
thing to see, seeing as he smacked straight into a sponge behind him and  
spent a few very frustrating minutes trying to free himself.  
When he looked up the pufferfish and the shrimp were restraining the  
seemingly insane fish and the starfish was trying to explain something to  
him.  
"Listen Bubbles, he isn't Nemo, he just looks one heck of a lot like Nemo,  
calm down before we have to feed you to a seagull!"  
Marlin looked confused. "Nemo? Little clownfish with a weak fin on one  
side?" he questioned.  
The shrimp seemed to be the only one listening, so he replied "Oui, he waz  
in our tank feur a while."  
Marlin laughed, "No wonder your friend recognised me, Nemo's my son!"  
There was a gaggle of greetings and telling of what had happened to the  
gang after Nemo's escape, then to his horror Marlin realised he may well  
have seen the fish who saved his son's life get eaten by a leopard shark.  
"Umm, your leader, he wasn't called. Gill, was he?" Marlin asked nervously.  
"Yes!" they all said at once.  
"Have you seen him?" the humbug who'd introduced herself as Dab questioned  
eagerly.  
Marlin smiled, trying to look innocent, "No, Nemo just mentioned him a few  
times, that's all." 


	5. Peach's confession

"G-Gill?" Dory asked, her mind was buzzing with memories, they were all  
coming back to her.  
He swam closer to her, smiling as gently as possible. "Dorleen, I know you  
don't remember me but if you do, please tell me now because I can't bear  
loosing you again." He gabbled.  
Dory stared at him. Then everything clicked into place. As he swam off she  
darted in front of him.  
"Dorleen what on-mph!?" the final part of his sentence was muffled by Dory  
kissing him.  
"I remember!" she cried out. "Gill, you tried to save me from that shark  
and." she nuzzled up to him, "Gill." She murmured, settling for the simple  
pleasure she got out of saying his name.  
"Dorleen." He whispered. "My Dorleen." His one good fin rested upon her  
head, their sheer happiness radiating from them and making the sharks go  
'aww'.  
  
As Marlin led the tank gang around the reef he could feel the guilt  
mounting up inside of him, every now and then the Humbug would give a small  
sob or the Starfish would whimper slightly.  
"Gosh, I hope he's okay, he's so sweet and brave and nice and he seemed so  
upset about his girlfriend." Peach mumbled, she was hanging on to Marlin's  
tail.  
Bloat laughed. "If I didn't know better I'd think you had a thing for  
Gill!"  
Peach's silence spoke louder than any words ever could.  
Gurgle gasped, "You and Gill?!"  
Jaques laughed, "Ah vell mademoiselle, 'oo could do a great deal worse."  
Peach's blush showed even through her pink skin. "So I liked him, so what?  
He's still hung up on his stupid ex-girlfriend!"  
Now Marlin felt really bad. A sudden revelation came to him, what if, by  
some incredible chance, the shark that attacked them was in fish-eater's  
anonymous? It seemed worth a look.  
"Y'know, there is one place he might be." Marlin suggested casually.  
  
"Dorleen." Gill whispered. "Can we go somewhere. more private?" he  
questioned, noticing the four shark's expressions.  
"Sure! We'll go back to the anemone!" Dory's face fell, "Oh wait, Marlin's  
there. MARLIN!" she jumped, or the fish equivalent of jumping. "Oh my god  
Marlin's gonna freak!"  
"Dorleen, he doesn't matter anymore, we're together again." Gill murmured,  
swimming to her side.  
"No, you don't understand! I love Marlin," Dory protested, the sharks  
around them gasped. "But I love you too! Owww.." Dory grabbed her fishy  
head. "So many little red flags goin up."  
"Calm down shiela, yer're gonna give yourself the mother and father of a  
headache." Bruce swam over and flapped one fin at her, spreading cool water  
around her. "Listen, ah think we needs ta find Marlin and sort this out  
once and for all."  
Gill glared at him, "Fine some one bring Marlin here, I'll strap a mine to  
my head and I'll nut him to oblivion!"  
"I'd like to see you try!"  
Marlin's voice caused all of them to look up. There was Marlin in the  
entrance to the sub, with the tank gang flanking him. All of them looked  
genuinely shocked that Gill would ever say anything like that.  
Gill hardly even noticed the gang, he only saw Marlin, he started to move  
forwards as if to headbutt the clownfish but Bruce's fin stopped him.  
"Zip up lil' mate, you're gonna float there nice and quiet while we try to  
sort this out. Right?"  
Gill reluctantly agreed, as mad as he was, he wasn't going to take on a  
shark.  
"Right, now then, Ah think what both of you aren't doing is asking yer  
shiela what SHE wants." Bruce pushed Dory forwards gently. "Go on Dory, who  
do you love?"  
Dory stared, her eyes going from Gill to Marlin. Gill was brave, loyal and  
true, yet Marlin was all these things and something else all together. Gill  
could easily be evil, but he wasn't, because other's needed him. Marlin  
cared about little things, but so much so that he couldn't have fun  
sometimes.  
"Gosh, this is better than 'Neighbours'!" Spot commented.  
"Shaddup and let the lil' sheila think!" Chum snarled.  
Dory floated there, weighing up both of their pros and cons, finally she  
realised she didn't have to, she just had to ask herself, who did she love?  
"I- I've made my decision." She said shakily.  
Gill and Marlin leant forwards, the tank gang watched in awe, the Sharks  
couldn't wait to hear this.  
"I choose-  
  
HAHAHA! Thought I was gonna tell ya, didn't ya? Well not yet! This is gonna  
reel in SO many reviews! 


	6. Dory's decision 1

Okay, I know someone's going to be angry whichever way I go, so I'm going  
to write a chapter where she picks one guy, another when she picks the  
other.  
  
"Please don't hate me for this," Dory whispered, not catching anyone's  
eyes, "I choose Marlin."  
There was total silence.  
Marlin swam to her side and hugged her. "I love you Dory."  
The moorish idol closed his eyes, as much as he hated the fact, he could  
see their love, and aside from anythign else, this was a chance for Nemo to  
have a real family. Gill swallowed, obviously struggling to keep everything  
inside. "I could never hate you Dorleen." He sighed, "Your best offer is  
friendship, if you offer it, I'll take it."  
Dory smiled angelically and hugged him. "Sure, we can be buddies!" she  
kissed his cheek, "Cheer up!"  
Gill tried to smile, then slowly turned and began to swim away, the tank  
gang followed in single file, Peach grabbing on the Gill's tail.  
"Good on'ya Marlin!" Bruce laughed, slapping Marlin on the back and sending  
him flying across the sub. "Oh, er, sorry mate."  
Marlin peeled himself off the wall, "'s okay Bruce, frankly I just want to  
go home now." He swam to Dory and linked his fin with hers. "C'mon, Nemo's  
gonna be home in a few hours, let's go meet him."  
"Yay! We get to see Kico! Race ya!" Dory sped off, after a moment's  
surprise Marlin followed.  
  
Gill swam further and further away from the sub.  
"That was a very brave thing you did back there." Deb commented.  
"Oui, ze pains of a broken heart were upon vou, and you didn't let it  
show." Jaques added.  
Bloat nodded, "Don't worry, plenty more fish in the sea, right?"  
Gill turned around, the angriest look they'd ever seen was plastered upon  
his scarred face. "I don't want any other bloody fish! I LOVED her! Why is  
it so freaking hard for any of you to see that?! She was the one reason I  
wanted to escape that hell-hole and she just pushed me aside!" he seemed  
ready to go on but Peach caught him a sharp slap across the cheek.  
"Now you listen to me for a change mister!" she snapped, "You fell in love  
with Dorleen, she's not Dorleen anymore, she's Dory, she's moving on, and  
unless you want to end up a sad old spinster you better get used to the  
fact that she's not your girlfriend anymore!" Peach breathed heavily. "For  
once forget about her and you'll see how much I love you!" Peach gasped,  
smacking one spine in front of her mouth.  
Gill was floating there with his eyes wide open, the rest of the gang  
looked at each other for a moment, then decided to leave the two.  
Peach's blush was visible through her skin. "I- I don't- I mean." She  
trailed off.  
"You- you love me?" Gill repeated. "Why didn't you ever say?"  
"There never seemed to be a good time. You were always escaping or cutting  
yourself up or hiding on your own or- or searching for long-lost loves."  
Gill looked guilty. He stared down at the sand, watching their shadows. He  
looked confused, there was a third, large shadow he didn't recognise. He  
raised his gaze, then gasped.  
Spot was floating behind Peach, who had grabbed a handy piece of coral. The  
leopard shark had the most terrible grin on his face, the hundreds and  
hundreds of teeth reflected Peach again and again.  
"LOOK OUT!" he screamed, flicking his tail at Peach and making her grab it.  
"Hold on!" he warned and sped forwards, wishing he hadn't scarred his fin  
all those years ago.  
But Spot didn't follow, he gave a confused look and muttered, "I only  
wanted to ask how he was doin'."  
Gill slowed as they approached the reef and turned. "H-hey, I outswam him!"  
Peach opened her eyes, "Great going!" if she wasn't already firmly attached  
to the idol she would've hugged him. "So where's the clamshell you kept  
talking about?"  
"Why d'you want to know?" Gill asked teasingly.  
Peach blushed again. "Gill, don't tease." She nuzzled up to him, "What do  
you say? Shall we give it a shot?"  
Gill thought for a few moments, he thought he loved Dory, but now, when he  
thought about it, Peach was right, Dory and Dorleen were different. And now  
he loved neither.  
"Let me think about it."  
He swam them towards the clamshell. There were some little light-up shrimps  
swimming in an underwater dance around it.  
"Courtesy of Jacques." Gill said with a small laugh. He stopped in the  
shell, resting onto the soft cushiony inside. Peach detached herself and  
rested beside him. It was nice watching the little shrimps twirl and  
sparkle like stars.  
"Pretty aren't they?" Peach asked, breaking the silence.  
"Like lots of little stars." Gill answered.  
Peach gulped, "Look I don't want to nag, but I really want an answer  
because I'm fed up with being in love with someone who I don't even know  
loved me back!" she sighed, "There I go babbling again."  
Gill smiled, "You're cute when you're nervous." He let his bad fin rest on  
her arm. "Okay pinkie, let's give this relationship thing a try."  
Peach smiled like all her dreams had come true, then leant forward for a  
kiss.  
Before the pair the shrimps danced and sparkled like hundreds of fireworks  
filling the deep blue of the ocean, a sea of sparkle within an ocean of  
peace.  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Mr. Ray landed and let his fin drop. "Okay explorers, get off my back and  
home to your happy families!" he shook his back to get rid of the hangers-  
on.  
Nemo laughed, sliding down and landing on Squirt.  
"Man, could that get any more AWSOME?!" Squirt asked, doing a small loop-  
the-loop.  
"Hey, lil' duude." Crush called, scooping the tiny turtle up onto his back.  
"So how was the old neighbourhood?"  
"Still cool." Squirt replied, Nemo waved as the pair swam off together.  
The little clownfish glanced around, watching his friends return to their  
parents, a sudden worry flooded through him as he realised his dad wasn't  
around.  
"Daddy?" he called, "Daddy? Mom?" he started to whimper.  
"Hiya Nemo!" Dory called, diving over a pile of coral and landing beside  
him. "Did I get your name right this time?"  
"Uh-huh!" Nemo answered, hugging her, "Man, you freaked me out for a moment  
there!"  
Marlin appeared from behind the same piece of coral Dory had done. "Makes a  
change from you scaring me every morning."  
"Dad!" Nemo called, shooting over and hugging his dad. "Hey, you won't  
believe what we saw, we were in the EAC and we saw a HUGE dolphin right  
outside it! And Sandy Plankton kept falling off and he had to go home  
crying and."  
"We'll hear about it tomorrow, it's late." Marlin took Nemo's fin and Dory  
took the little fish's other. They swam off in a neat little row.  
"Hey, Dory," Nemo asked later as the three began to sleep in the anemone,  
he nuzzled up to the blue tang. "Can I call you Mom?" 


	7. Dory's decision 2

Dory looked from one to the other. "Gill, I've always loved you. I always  
will."  
Marlin looked shattered, he looked as if he might break down and cry right  
there, but he didn't he held it all in.  
"Well, congratulations, the better fish won."  
Gill made no reply, he linked his fin with Dory's and they swam off, after  
a few seconds the tank gang followed.  
Only then did Marlin let the tear roll down his face, only then did he  
start shaking with empty sobs.  
Bruce laid one fin across his back, "There, there, lil' mate, she made her  
choice, you have to accept that."  
Marlin shuddered, "But we. it. it's not fair!"  
  
A few meters into the water Gill suddenly stopped, something felt wrong.  
"Is everyone here?" he asked, counting up the gang. "Bloat, Bubbles, Deb,  
Dory, Gurgle, Jaques. where's Peach?"  
The gang looked at one another in confusion.  
Dory smiled brightly, "I think we left her with Bruce!"  
Gill sighed, "I'll go get her." He winked at Dory, she blushed as he swam  
away towards the sub.  
  
Gill entered the sub and stared, Marlin was crying in the corner, he didn't  
even notice the sharks around him.  
"Well I'm glad SOMEONE noticed I wasn't around." Peach snarled as he caught  
sight of her.  
"Sorry about that Peach, I just lost track of." Gill started to apologise,  
but she caught him a sharp smack around the face.  
"Just leave me here! I'll be one less stupid girl you have to worry about!"  
"What's wrong with you?!" he asked in shock. "You know I'd never leave you  
behind on purpose!"  
Peach closed her eyes, "I know, but frankly I don't want to look at you  
anymore." She paused, "Well it's now or never," she murmured. "I have to  
stay away from you because every single time I see you and her together I  
feel sick."  
Gill glared, "Oh great, someone who hates inter-species things."  
"It's not that, god why do you have to be so dense!?! I love you Gill!"  
Peach yelled, then she snapped her mouth shut.  
Gill floated there for a few seconds, his mind going a mile a minute. "o-  
kay. Let me get this straight, I love Dory, you love me, Dory." he thought  
for a moment, looking over at marlin, still curled up in pain.  
He sighed, "There's something I have to do, wait there a second." He turned  
and swam for the gang outside.  
  
Dory smiled as Gill swam towards the group of fish. "Hey Bill!"  
"Gill" he corrected, "Come with me Dory." He pulled her along to the sub.  
"Dory, I do love you, never forget that," he sighed heavily, "but I think  
there's someone who needs you more than I do."  
He nodded towards the shaking Clownfish. Dory's mouth dropped open and she  
darted to his side. "Marlin? Marlin, it's me!"  
Marlin opened his eyes, gazing up at her. "Dory."  
Gill knew where he wasn't needed, he went to Peach's side.  
"That was a really great thing you just did." She commented, "I thought you  
loved her?"  
"I do. I always have," Gill said, his heart heavy, then he looked up at  
her, "But I realised I love you so much more."  
Peach blushed. "Gill."  
"Shh, let's just go." Gill whispered, letting her grab his tail and they  
swam out.  
  
A week passed. Gill and Peach were inseparable, Dory and Marlin much the  
same, and now with Nemo back they looked like a real family as the three  
fish swam around the reef.  
Gill knew the love he'd felt for Dory would never go away truly, but he  
also knew that deep inside his heart the Dorleen he'd loved had died when  
she got that bump on the head. Peach had stood by him through everything  
that had everything, he figured he owed her his love.  
Fin (no pun intended) 


End file.
